Activities

Airbnb Announces “Trips”

At their annual Airbnb Open conference in Los Angeles last week Airbnb announced the official launch of a tours and activities product, Trips. These trips are peer-to-peer activities, mostly offered by existing Airbnb hosts. Some are individual activities while others are multi-day experiences. Airbnb Trips

This launch comes after extensive testing; Airbnb has been offering peer-to-peer activities for close to two years in San Francisco, and possibly elsewhere. Initially Trips will be available in 12 cities: Detroit, London, Paris, Nairobi, Havana, San Francisco, Cape Town, Florence, Miami, Seoul, Tokyo, and Los Angeles, with more to come in 2017. Trips can be booked through the Airbnb mobile app, and you don’t have to be staying in an Airbnb to make a booking.

This announcement was no surprise, as Airbnb recently acquired Trip4Real, a Barcelona-based peer-to-peer activities company. And the move beyond lodging is a logical step for this company. People booking Airbnb lodging are an audience readymade for additional travel offerings. And many are seeking alternatives to the traditional hotel and tour company vacation experience.

A quick look through the offerings on the Airbnb app suggests that Trips won’t be cheap. I found just three in San Francisco for $50 or less, and most were closer to $200. But I believe the initial launch is highly curated to include only popular activity leaders, and the multi-day experiences were hand picked by Airbnb so it’s likely you’ll get some good memories for the money.